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We currently have the following vacancies for employment. Please email to recruitment@tsprofessional.co.uk with an accompanying hand written resume.
Postal applications will also be considered. Because we are a small but busy company please do not telephone to speak about these vacancies.

No Agencies please.

HIRE MANAGER - Salary Negotiable

Job Summary

An energetic enthusiastic manager is currently required to head up our busy hire department. Suitable applicants should have at least 3 years experience in the AV, sound and lighting industry. The manager will be tasked with day to day organising, preparing quotations and equipment for a range of important clients. A mix of practical, physical effort is needed alongside a methodical approach to preparing quotations and other associated administrative duties.
The candidate will also be required to actively obtain more business to continue the growth of our hire department. It's an ideal opportunity to join a small but ambitious company.
Salary and benefits subject to negotiations.

TRAINEE AUDIO VISUAL TECHNICIAN - £10,000 per year

Job Summary

This is an ideal opportunity for an enthusiastic person to join our small team to assist on a wide range of audio visual permanent installations for a wide variety of clients, including houses of worship and educational establishments. As we are a small company your duties will also include assisting in our busy Hire department. Training will be given "on the job". However, it is not just a job, we would like somebody who wants a career within our company and who has a thirst for knowledge (in AV, sound systems and lighting control).

We are looking for someone who will turn up to work with a 'can do' attitude and has a thirst for knowledge. There maybe occasions where you will have to stay late if a job over runs, so flexibility will be required.
The minimum age is 17 years and the salary will be based on an initial assessment of abilities, you will need to be fit and have a positive attitude.

INSTALLATION TECHNICIAN - £24,000 to £30,000 per year

Job Summary

The ideal candidates should have at least 3 years experience in the AV, sound and lighting industry. The work tasks are varied but include working for a wide range of clients on various installation sites in the UK.

Knowledge of video distribution systems, analogue and digital sound systems and DMX lighting control would be an advantage. We also require applicants to have CSCS and DBS certification or the successful candidate will be given the opportunity to obtain such certification. A clean driving licence is essential.

As a small company we naturally want employees with flexible attitude who are able to help in all activities including our busy Hire Department.

TSProfessional SOUND + LIGHT originally started trading in 1979. From 2005 we decided to expand our AV installations activities. This now represents 80% of our business. We offer good remuneration, 24 days annual paid holiday and company pension scheme.

Responsibilities and Duties

Installation of a wide variety of sound and lighting equipment for various clients across the UK

Installing Hire Equipment (various types) on site

Assisting the office with getting hire equipment ready to go out to our customers

Maintaining a tidy and organised warehouse

Qualifications and Skills

3 Years Experience within the AV, sound and lighting industry

Knowledge of video distribution systems, analogue and digital sound systems and DMX lighting control wound be an advantage.

CSCS and DBS certified would be an advantage, or you can obtain if you successfully get the job

Where did TSProfessional Audio Limited come from? Way back in 1979 Tape Shop opened in central Brighton in a very small lock up shop at the top of Viaduct Road. When you arrive in Brighton via the M23/A23 and just after passing the main fire station you will see on your right hand side the premises that the original parent business had from 1979 on a short 3 year lease from Brighton Council. It is now a Pizza take-away and we had just half of that property making us one of Britain's highest turnover per square foot of floor space! We did tremendous business with supplying truck loads of blank tape including lots of open reel tape for professionals and serious amateurs. Eventually we took on board equipment and wrestled the growing TEAC/TASCAM project range from two other major local retailers who were just "playing" with it. We then sold large quantities of the original 144 Portastudios and open reel decks by TEAC and TASCAM. We were one of their biggest customers. At times we had so much stock that it had to be stored in friends houses!
We brought the portastudio to Sussex! The original 144 was designed and thought out by an English man and taken to Japan and manufactured by the TEAC corporation. This was just after the growing sales of their original four track open reel for surround sound four channel use but taken on board by crafty English musicians as a cheap 4 track multitracker.

Eventually we moved to the exit part of the A23 in Preston Road, Brighton and expanded the equipment side to include major microphone brands, loudspeakers and effects units like the old drainpipe! The Great British Spring. This was a spring reverb constructed in a length of grey soil pipe, we sold loads of them but over night a new company from America brought digital reverb to a new market with low prices and excellent quality - Alesis. Still making all types of processing equipment. It was a very easy piece of kit to sell, from the original Midi and Micro Verbs to the drum machines featuring original digital samples.

By now we had run out of space again, we closed Viaduct Road and opened a hi-fi shop in Hove, Southern Hi-fi, where we sold a middle market range of hi-fi separates and other British makes, Quad and Mordant Short. Our best selling loudspeakers were Mordant Short and we sold many TEAC and AIWA cassette decks. We also sold loads of open reel decks by TEAC and AKAI for home use. Our headquarters re-located to brand new office premises in Hove Park Villas.

WELL KNOWN CUSTOMERS

The Tape Shop section continued to supply loads of multi track recorders and microphones to many local musicians who flocked to the store to purchase good equipment from knowledgeable staff. We supplied a young Norman Cook with some of his earliest mixers, a young Carl Cox with a PA system that he hired and mostly brought back on time when it was not confiscated by the police. We also supplied Dave Clarke another local DJ and one day an attractive lady by the name of Karon bought a microphone and practice amp to use for her singing that her husband Chris was encouraging her to do, her husband became more successful in boxing so we never did get to hear Mrs. Eubank sing. There were many other musicians that travelled for miles to see one of largest range of recording equipment available to view from stock outside of London.

By now we had started TSProfessional Audio (Tape Shop Professional Audio) and launched that new venture with our own studio furniture range of products the most successful of which was the Tape Deck Console and with a healthy mail order side started to supply multi-track packages - just like everybody else. That really was a problem in the mid 1980's, competitive pressures, staffing problems and unhelpful bankers (The Midland Bank) resulted in a decision to close the retail operations The parent company went into receivership. But we rescued the professional side and started up in our large office premises in Hove the company and operation now know as TSProfessional Audio Limited building up a reputation for honest good service for installation, hire and sales.

ANOTHER MOVE FORWARD

In 2005 we took another giant step forward and moved the whole operation to a modern 3000 square feet industrial unit in Burgess Hill. Now we have more space to grow and store our expanding hire stock. There are excellent parking facilities (unlike Brighton!) and its easy to load and unload at the goods inwards/outwards. We have added more hire equipment and now carry out more installation work then ever before. Our core business is now installation work for a wide variety of customers including many schools, colleges and church organisations.That is where we are today. We still sell to musicians and other professional uses and callers can use the trade counter for purchases or we mail order. We also started our on line store which offers equipment at good competitive prices .Effectively the company has been in existence for well over 31 years and we intend to be here for at least another 31 years!

BACKGROUND TO AUDIO RECORDING

The recording industry has changed rapidly in the last ten years. Gone are the days when the customer had just a small choice of formats on which to record upon. Many older people will remember that the early developments of home recording, usually of the family, events or perhaps a selection of radio broadcasts were done on ¼" open reel tape recorders. That would have been done in mono of course. Thus the choice was not the format but perhaps what tape speed to use. Open reel was gradually replaced by the audio Compact Cassette developed by the then Netherlands' based company Philips. There had been other attempts to make open reel more convenient by removing the need to "thread up" the tapes. This was done by permanently placing two open reels in a large cassette case. That also resulted in the facility of being able to remove recorded tapes from the recorder at any point during the tape and not having to rewind the tapes each time. The Compact Cassette gave this facility and immediately the Japanese developed better quality recording tape and cassette recorders the Compact Cassette took off.

There was an early battle between Philips and Germany based Grundig over the tape speed but Philips stuck to the 1.7/8 inches per second that was one of the open reel standard speeds, Grundig had wanted 2 inches per second. To the open reel users recording on tape now half the width of ¼" tape and at the very slow speed of 1.7/8 inches per second it was just not going to delivery the same quality. But because of the developments by the Japanese it quickly gained acceptance. It was the convenience factor and of course the ease of transporting the tapes and archiving them due to their small size and lower cost. However open reel recording tape had a much bigger future in the professional fields....more about this will be added at a later date!

TO BE CONTINUED

This History of TSProfessional Audio will be expanding to include interesting trends and changes in audio recording that have taken place over the years. The history of audio recording goes back many years and represents a point in human history when along with photography we can truly say that by using archive material "time travel" is possible. We welcome your feedback.